This invention relates generally to bending strands of material, and more specifically, for example, to methods and assemblies for fabricating stator for power generators.
In at least some known power generators, a stator yoke surrounds an armature core and partially encloses a plurality of armature windings, which are sometimes referred to as “stator windings” or “stator bars”. At least some known stator bars include a plurality of strands of copper conductors that are wound in the armature to form loops. The armature windings are generally positioned to enable desired voltage and current characteristics to be generated during operation. Electrical insulation may be wrapped around the strands of copper conductor and/or the stator bars to separate the strands from each other and from other conductive structures.
At least some known methods for fabricating stator bars include using one or more assemblies to fabricate a plurality of strands from a coil of a copper conductor. For example, one or more assemblies may be used to uncoil, partially strip insulation from, bend, and cut the conductor to form a plurality of strands. Each formed strand may be bent at predetermined locations for winding around the armature bar, and after being cut to desired length, the plurality of strands may be combined to form a stator bar. Some known generators may include more than one configuration of stator bars and/or some assemblies used to fabricate stator bars may be used to fabricate differently-configured stator bars for different generators. Accordingly, the fabrication configuration of at least some known assemblies may be changed to enable bends to be formed at different locations, angles, and lengths for different stator bars. Moreover, at least some known assemblies use shims, spacers, and/or other fabrication devices to change a configuration of plates of the assembly to achieve the predetermined locations, angles, and lengths of the bends. To accurately configure the plates, a position of each of the shims, spacers, or other fabrication devices may be calculated based on the predetermined bends. However, accurately locating the shims, spacers, and/or other fabrication devices may be time-consuming and may be subject to operator error. As a result, poor reliability and/or repeatability of fabricating the finished stator bars, as well increased cycle times necessary between the fabrication of different stator bars, may contribute to decreasing an overall production rate of stator bars.